In the wake of savage murders of three women last week, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manickchand on Tuesday acknowledged that the domestic violence law could be better implemented and slammed the US for putting Guyana on its trafficking-in-persons radar.
Manickchand said that she is pleased with the success of the ministry in implementing promises made. She pronounced to the National Assembly as she made her contribution to the 2009 Budget debate on Tuesday that Government has made it clear that it is concerned about vulnerable persons in society and has initiated policies and programmes aimed at making the weak strong and many things that were promised were delivered.
She noted that these include expanding legal aid services, implementing a single parents’ assistance fund, establishing a child care protection agency, a more efficient pension system, making sure that the children’s bills are passed and overhauling sexual offences legislation, and asserted that the Ministry is well on its way to achieving these promises. “We are particularly pleased with the progress and the success that the ministry has seen but not because the ministry has seen those successes but because of the effect it has had on all the lives that we have touched over the last three years in implementing promises that we have made”, Manickchand said.
She declared that domestic violence and violence against women is abhorred and is a matter that should be treated seriously by all agencies. According to the minister, who is also an attorney, the government has been very clear in its policies established years ago and has said that domestic violence is a social ill that must be eradicated. She recalled that in 1996, the Government had passed comprehensive domestic violence legislation that could arguably be called one of the best in the region. “We can be even prouder if we were to see the legislation being implemented in the way that I believe Parliament intended for that piece of legislation to be implemented”, she stated. She did not elaborate.
However, she noted, even though government has published the policy, done the awareness exercises, established sources where people can access and enforce those rights in the form of the Legal Aid clinic and other means and had worked together with non-governmental organizations, the scourge continues. “Even after all of that we see sadly, or more frustratingly that women are still dying at the hand of their partners, lovers, husbands and this is unacceptable”, she asserted.
The Minister said that domestic violence is a social issue that has to be addressed across the board and the Ministry intends to find ways to work with other stakeholders to ensure that that message gets across “so that we do not see the numbers that we saw”. She asserted that it is something that must be eradicated now so that the next generation is going to have a country free of domestic violence. In this regard, she pointed to the launching of Legal Aid clinics.
Meantime, the Human Services Minister slammed the United States for “presumptuously” placing Guyana on its Trafficking in Persons (TIP) radar and suggested that persons do not understand the issue. She declared that several speakers had commented “very loosely and perhaps not with full knowledge” on the topic. “(It) is an issue that we need to, as a country, be very careful with what we say and be very responsible with what we are going to say to persons lest we denigrate our people, the Guyanese people, unfairly because we simply do not understand the whole issue and where it came from”, she declared.
Denouncing the US as “dead wrong” in its view of Guyana as it relates to TIP, and stating that the country will continue to be wrong except if a review is done, Manickchand revealed that between 2004 to 2008, twelve persons had been charged with the offence and last month, two persons were charged. She did not say, however, how many were convicted. The minister said that private prosecutors have been hired to ensure that the matters are addressed speedily, reiterating that from 2004 to now less than 20 persons were charged. Noting the US State Department’s annual report on TIP, she said that at no point will Guyana be submitting to that country significant numbers of prosecutions or convictions “simply because we do not have a significant number of persons who are trafficked”.
Addressing other issues, and under constant heckling from members on the opposition benches with regard to the pension figure ($6300), Manickchand declared that pensions were raised 63% by the government. She said that pensions are supposed to be a supplemental income and further noted that with Public Assistance and Pensions about 7% of Guyana’s population is receiving money for which they had to make no direct contribution.
Further, she said, she is pleased with the child protection programme and the Ministry will be launching a foster care programme within the next month. According to her, the Ministry intends to place 40 children in foster care by next month end and before the end of this year, hopes to increase this number to 100 candidates. As regards the Single Parent Fund, she said that the $100M allocated last year “may have been expended on another vulnerable group” pointing out that the number of pensioners had increased.